The Zzisko Cancer Fund is a organized effort
to obtain treatment for a faithful and dedicated Working Dog..

The Zzisko Story: Zzisko was whelped on
Lackland Air Force Base in June of 2005. He spent his early months in
a foster home until he was old enough to return to Lackland for
training. At ten months old Zzisko was selected to assume his canine
career as a Combat Tracking Dog. Upon selection, Zzisko was paired
with his handler and partner Bryan Manthey, who went through a six
month long tracking course with him. During tracking school both
Zzisko and his handler began to flourish and develop a bond as a team.
In November of 2006, Zzisko and Bryan were stationed at Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton California. Zzisko continued to train with his
handler until September of 2007, when they both embarked on their
first deployment to Iraq. Zzisko and Bryan spent seven and a half
months in the Fallujah area of Iraq and experienced many successes
together as a team. The following year, in November of 2008, Zzisko
and Bryan deployed again to Iraq, operating across a significant
portion of the areas held by Coalition Forces. After returning from
Iraq, Zzisko and Bryan remained together as a team, trained, and
prepared together until deploying yet again in June of 2010 to
Afghanistan. After a long seven month deployment, they returned to
Camp Pendleton as a team that had operated together for almost five
years. Shortly after returning from Afghanistan, Bryan received orders
to Joint Service Base San Antonio to teach and instruct the Combat
Tracking Course. Zzisko awaited patiently, far away from his long time
handler and friend, for a year before being assigned to the Combat
Tracking Course to retrain. After spending eight months on Joint
Service Base San Antonio, in August of 2012, Zzisko was retired from
military service and was finally able to go home with Bryan, having
fulfilled over seven years of military service. During Zzisko’s career
he reached a level of success and celebrity that is rarely seen in
working dogs. He was featured in the movie, “Always Faithful”, K-9 Cop
Magazine, and Marines Magazine. Zzisko had been retired for just over
a year when Bryan discovered masses in his Lymph nodes. Immediately
after Bryan’s discovery of these masses, Zzisko was brought to a
veterinarian, where he received an initial diagnosis of Lympho-sarcoma
on September 23rd, 2013.

The Mission: The mission of this campaign is
to raise funds through the kindness of certain individuals. The funds
are to be used in paying for the costly treatment required to save
Zzisko’s life and allow him to enjoy his well earned retirement for as
long as possible. In most cases, lymphoma kills quickly if left
untreated, and sometimes shortens lifespan to as little as 4 – 6
weeks. With proper treatment Zzisko could possibly spend years with
his friends and family.

The funds raised from this campaign are in no wayintended for frivolous use and all funds
raised above and beyond the cost of treatment will be donated to
Washington State University's research projects specializing in animal
cancer treatment. Long term, if this cause receives the
response that we hope it will, we intend to start a not for profit
organization that supports treatment for retired Police and Military
Working dogs. This will be through donations to
universities across the country fighting the battle against cancer in
our beloved partners, and through direct support for retired Working
Dogs needing assistance.

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